Friday, November 30, 2007

Guest Author ~ Debra Beck


I am excited to announce my guest author for today!



Welcome to Debra Beck, author of "My Feet Aren't Ugly ~ A Girl's Guide to Loving Herself from the Inside Out"


Girls Standing in Their Power

“I don’t care what others think of me, I want to make decisions for myself, based on how I feel, not based on what someone else thinks.” This is a statement from a teenage girl standing in her power

I was a very insecure teenager. I was one big ball of anxiety, everyday during the school year, and it only diminished slightly when school was out. I was always looking outside of myself for approval and because I rarely received it, I felt like something was desperately wrong with me.
It wasn’t until I had two daughters of my own, did I realize that this wasn’t exclusive to me; it was a universal issue among teenage girls.

My passion is helping girls learn to fill that big hole in themselves that makes them feel so worthless. When we have a big hole in us that we have not filled with our own love and confidence, we are always looking outside of ourselves to get it filled. All of our decisions are based on getting someone to like us, instead of making decisions that are good for us. If we have confidence in ourselves it’s easy for us to say no to the things that aren’t good for us.

An example of this could be as simple as: a couple of kids in school ask you to ditch school, and go party. Inside you don’t really want to do this, but you do because you don’t want them to dislike you. If you felt good about yourself it would be easy to say, “no thanks, but have fun.” When we are confident, we come from a different place inside ourselves, we carry ourselves differently. People have respect for us and don’t question the decisions we make for ourselves.

I love it when I see these shifts in girls, and they love it too. When young women start filling that hole with satisfaction and confidence in themselves, their whole life changes. They are no longer making decisions for the wrong reasons; the decisions they make are decisions that are good for them. I get to watch their appearance actually change too. They stand straighter, they walk with a sense of sureness, and they speak with confidence, because they are. There is nothing more inspiring to me than a girl learning how to stand in her power or a girl standing strong in her power. I feel so lucky in my life to be able to witness these miraculous changes in girls who start loving themselves. It reminds me how big love is.

For 15 years, Debra Beck has mentored teenage girls, doing workshops with Girl Power, as well as creating and facilitating Spirited Youth. She drew upon her own life experiences for her book, My Feet Aren't Ugly, which is an Award-Winner in the Young Adult Non-Fiction category of the National Best Books 2007 Awards. Learn more at http://www.myfeetarentugly.com/

Don't forget to check out my book review of Debra's book at: http://reviewarchives.tripod.com/id62.html

1 comment:

Thank for you taking the time out to visit with me and to learn about my writing career.

Please be sure to leave your blog address so I can reciprocate.

I look forward to visiting you too.